Challenge #2
Your buildings get a tremendous amount of foot traffic every day. You have
multiple entrances and multiple banks of elevators, and as a mixed-use
facility, security staff must be alert to everything from questions from
visitors, carpet runners dragged across the lobby, and a complaint from an
older gentleman “of a young lady who came into the men’s room with her
father.”
Just when things seem to be calming down, the fire alarm goes off, and the
elevators shut down just as the annual luncheon of the “golden givers” in the
ballroom on the third floor is ending.
Creative solution. Don’t panic. Dispatch both male and female facility and security
personnel to the third-floor ballroom and its adjacent men’s and ladies’
rooms. If the restrooms and common areas do not have visual strobe alarms —
an ADA requirement — people who cannot hear will not know the fire alarm has
been sounded and that they need to evacuate. If the facility has developed an
emergency evacuation plan that includes ways to evacuate people who cannot
use stairs, put that plan into action. If you have not yet developed a plan,
start with these first important steps:
Ü Communicate to tenants about emergency evacuation procedures
and routes. Hold
evacuation drills, and do not make them voluntary.
Ü Make sure security staff understands emergency procedures and
routes.
Ü If the building has guests sign in, add a simple question such as, “In
case of an emergency,
would you need assistance in getting out of
the building?”
Ü Consider buying emergency evacuation equipment if you have
tenants who cannot use
stairs. Someone with a hidden medical
condition, such as a
heart condition, or someone who was recently
injured or recovering
from surgery might need assistance.
As for the other issues in this scenario, make sure that carpet runners
are securely attached to the floor. They present a trip hazard and a risk
manager’s nightmare.
A good signage program would help the facility. It assists the security staff
by providing wayfinding signage to the entrances and it directs the father
with the young daughter to the family toilet room down the hall from the
men’s room.
Challenge #3
You’re responsible for a medical facility and are preparing for a national
accreditation review and a state inspection, bidding out the design work for
a new children’s outpatient wing, as well as for renovations to the patient
bathrooms in the hospital’s oldest wing.
Creative solution. Prioritize and document. First, the requirements for accreditation or
state licensing in medical facilities often conflict with ADA requirements,
requiring something that is prohibited under the ADA. This is particularly
true for bathrooms in patient rooms.
In those instances, it is critical to get documentation from the
accreditation or funding source to demonstrate why those particular elements
do not meet the ADA requirements. But if the requirement calls for
side-mounted grab bars on the toilet, consider wall-mounted, swing-away grab
bars, which serve both purposes.
As for the children’s outpatient wing, the Access Board has developed
guidance on children’s environment specifications that provide for lower
toilet and lavatory mounting heights and other elements. They can be found at
access-board
web site
Finally, when renovating tiny patient room bathrooms, consider either
removing or moving the lavatory to provide more floor space alongside the
toilet. This allows for greater room for assisted transfers — particularly
true in hospital settings — for patients who need it during their stay.
Challenge #4
The dean of admissions announces that the university has just been chosen
to participate in a program for war-injured veterans to earn their degrees,
but the university must assure that the campus is “ADA compliant.” What do
you do, and where do you start?
Creative solution. If you did a self-evaluation and transition plan when the ADA was
implemented in 1992, and if you have been implementing the plan for the past
12 years, you are in a very good position to be able to report quickly back
to the dean about changes that might need to be made to the campus
facilities, their costs, and when they would be complete.
Did the self-evaluation and transition plan include the residential-life
aspects of campus, social and recreational and the exterior elements of the campus?
How do students get between buildings? Where are the accessible walking
routes, including curb cuts?
Take whatever information you do have and make sure it is current. An old
evaluation of a building is useless, particularly where changes have been
made. If no information is available, start reviewing your buildings.
Just as importantly, look at how someone — a student, visitor, alumni,
family member, employee or faculty member — can get around the campus.
Integrate that information into the campus map, on the web site and on any
information available. Most people will find it helpful and useful.
Access for all
Remember one thing: All of these scenarios have one thing in common:
Although they initially focused on ADA compliance, the solution actually
created a safer and a more cost-effective environment for everyone visiting
facilities.
There is a common denominator for all managers: Providing a safe and
user-friendly environment for employees, visitors, customers, tenants,
students and patients, whether they have disabilities or not, is the right
thing to do. It is the smart thing to do, and it’s the law.
Joan W. Stein is the president and CEO of Accessibility Development
Associates Inc. a Pittsburgh, Pa.-based consulting firm that provides a range
of ADA consulting services throughout North America.
Page 1
Page 2
Back to Articles
